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Monday, August 20, 2012

When Does Your "New Year" Begin?

For many people with school-aged children this is the "New Year" for them. It's filled with promises to never be late in the morning, sign all notes the night they come home, make wonderful, healthy lunches that the kids won't get bored with, be more involved in school and get more organized.

Getting more organized this time of year is different than the "get more organized" resolution made on the first of January. In January it means that we will clean out the closets and pantry and generally purge our lives of excess "stuff" after a season of gluttony and too much. Back to school "getting organized" usually involves things that have to do with time management - getting more done in less time.

After a summer of vacation fun and relaxed routines it's time to get back on schedule. And it is usually a very full schedule at that. Committee meetings that were suspended for the summer have begun again, after school activities begin in earnest and things tend to get busier at work as everyone is now finished with their summer holidays. Suddenly the calendar begins to fill up and, if you are like me, you wonder how you are going to fit it all in. Being more organized becomes much more important.

Where I live the kids all go back to school on the first Tuesday of September (Monday being a holiday). On that morning, around 9:00am, a friend and I have had a standing appointment for the past 12 years. We sit on my front porch with our coffees and we listen for the collective sigh of parents relishing that first morning of peace and quiet. Although I missed my children being home, for that one brief moment, I think I sighed the loudest. I know that it is the calm before the storm.